


Shrill

by Emerald Embers (emeraldembers)



Category: Legacy of Kain
Genre: Dubious Consent, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-10
Updated: 2010-04-10
Packaged: 2017-10-08 20:30:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldembers/pseuds/Emerald%20Embers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The lieutenants' bonds were broken long before Raziel was thrown into the abyss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shrill

Dumah is not the most intelligent of the brethren - he would know this even if Zephon did not take frequent pleasure in reminding him. Nonetheless he understands that what transpired tonight was huge, the consequences far reaching and soon to be made apparent. Their brother and all his children have been sacrificed at Kain's jealous whim, though their master's reluctance in ordering the genocide and his subsequent retirement to Sanctuary speaks volumes Dumah cannot hear.

Dumah is not a great intellect, but he thinks he knows why Rahab seems unhinged tonight. While Melchiah delighted in his new, stronger Razelim skin and the other brothers retired to their respective territories Rahab insisted upon staying. The main hall is drenched in vampiric blood that will not coagulate, blood that will remain until scavengers or the intermittent rays of Nosgoth's sun make use of it, and it is this that Rahab obsesses over. He had yet to clean himself off from the battle, and keeps dipping his hands into the pools of blood and pouring it over himself. Dumah is sure a poet would find the sight beautiful, but to him it is nothing save disturbing.

"What is this for, brother?"

Rahab laughs at the term 'brother' without humour - if there is any humour in the situation neither would want to know of it. "We are stained, sibling, and would do well to remember it."

Rahab's poise and tone seem wholly alien to Dumah, who has been used to nothing but languid grace in his brother's actions. The silver tongue and slippery actions are absent here, and while his movements are fluid the tension in them is all too evident. "It is foolish to dwell on the past."

"This is our _present_!" Hisses Rahab, furious with a venom Dumah had thought absent in his brother, with a loathing of everything this moment stood for. "Now and ever, this is our present. We will know and we will remember that we killed our own without question, without mercy, and seemingly without regret!"

A tempest brews within blue eyes, the last human irises amongst the brethren, but finds Dumah impassive and impossible to break upon. It is not Dumah's role to justify Kain's actions and he is not about to try, knowing full well that only Raziel and Rahab were ever privy to their Lord's slips from divinity. "This cannot be healthy."

"Would it be healthier to dwell on these thoughts alone?" Rahab asks, bitter.

"It would be better not to think on them at all."

"Forgive me for lacking your blessed freedom from intellect," Rahab snaps, and the eyes are still so cold with fury Dumah cannot tell if his brother grasps the cruel weight of the insult.

"You should not speak of intellect when bathing in the blood of those you apparently miss only after killing them."

"I do not miss them, I hate what we have done - what we have become!"

Dumah moves to stand over Rahab now, remembering he is the strongest and ought not to shy away from his angry _younger_ brother. "Perhaps it is not them you miss. Perhaps it is only dear Raziel."

"It is not your concern."

Dumah laughs back now and kneels, feeling blood lap at his leather trousers then still. "Who do you think of when you take yourself in hand? All your pretty fledglings play subservient, but who would dominate you?"

Dumah is disappointed when he cups Rahab's groin and finds no evidence of hardness, but the disappointment quickly turns to surprise when he feels Rahab stir beneath his hand and looks up to find blue eyes turned violet with the red of bloodlust. Words fail him as they have many times before, but he does not move his hand or take his eyes from that snarling face. Time seems to have frozen for a moment, only the distant rush of the Abyss sounding in their ears, both breath and heartbeats unnecessary for the vampires.

"You never bedded Raziel."

"_Shut up_," Rahab spits before attempting to move, but Dumah is stronger and squeezes tight, making his brother gasp. The strangest sensation has crept up in him and he has no idea what to do with it - he does not want Rahab because he cannot consider it, but he wants to watch. The sensation is detached, voyeuristic, and he uses his free hand to push Rahab back onto the floor, pinning his not-too-reluctant brother beneath him.

"What if I say no?" Rahab asks, the question sounding more theoretical than an actual possibility, eyes strange with emotional exhaustion.

"I only want to watch." Dumah figures the honesty must be appreciated because Rahab does not complain as his trousers' laces are undone and the offending article of clothing pushed the small distance down his hips required to free his erection. Dumah gives it a cursory glance and grips it with some distaste, returning his eyes swiftly to Rahab's face.

_This_ is what interests him - Rahab's reactions, the minute flicker of an eyelid, the parted lips. Quickened breathing despite no genuine need for air. A constant frown of concentration. Dumah isn't hard, doesn't believe he could get erect for a man, but Rahab is... an irritation, a taste he can't lick from his lips, an itch that cannot be found. He defies description and is not beautiful, but he _is_ irresistible, and Dumah's eyes do not leave him even as he bucks into Dumah's fist and comes, short and strangled cry signalling his release along with the blood spurting across his stomach and Dumah's hand.

"Are you satisfied?" Rahab asks as soon as he's laced up his trousers again.

Dumah isn't yet sure where these events have left them, looks at his bloodstained hand as if it has betrayed him. In a way, it has. "Are you?"

Rahab sits up and eyes their surroundings before lowering his head slightly. "Yes."

"Then nothing else matters." Dumah waits a minute longer before standing and offering Rahab a hand up, then walks off in the direction of Sanctuary. Kain might well desire solitude but there were plenty of rooms aside from the main hall to take shelter in. He is not surprised when Rahab accompanies him.

Blood calls to blood in times of need, and skittish fledglings are of no help to shattered nerves.

Dumah is not the most intelligent of the brethren, but even he understands the need for grounding company.


End file.
